loudon



Jan. 31, 1956 2,732,842

R. C. LOUDON BINDER FOR PAPERS, PAMPHLETS; CATALOGS 1 AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed May 27, 1953 IN V EN TOR. ROBERT C. LOUDON A TTORIVE Y BINDER FOR PAPERS, PAMPHLETS, CATALOGS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES My invention relates to a binder for miscellaneous papers, pamphlets, magazines, catalogs, brochures and similar material.

. All types of businesses receive during an interval of time a large quantity of miscellaneous papers, pamphlets, magazines, catalogs, and price lists which are not provided with heavy binder covers so that they maybe stacked vertically or otherwise arranged in an easily stored manner for ready reference. 7 The binders now available for storing such material and indexing it are relatively'expensive and quite frequently because of the expense involved the company does not purchase binders for such material. The result is that the papers, pamphlets or catalogs are stored loosely and when reference to them is desired, a great amount of time isconsumed in finding the desired material.

While large segments of the magazine purchasing public desire to retain, store and index magazines, no inexpensive binder is available on the market. Professional people such as accountants, lawyers, engineers and doctors in particular have adistinct problem in properly storing and indexing material or treatises on various subjects received in the mail gratuitously or ordered from a publishing house. For example, a lawyer during the course of a year may obtain a large numberof pamphlets or treatises on various subjects suchas taxes, anti-trust laws, price control, labor regulations, and other subjects, the law of which is in a state of flux and rapidly changing. No convenient,

inexpensive means is available at present to a lawyer to segregate the pamphlets and other material relating to a particular subject and store them in a separate indexed binder available for ready reference. The result is that the pamphlets are lost or stored in such confusion that the desiredpamphlet is not readily available. Other types of publications, for example, mail order catalogs, telephone books, and classified, advertising books are not furnished with hard, serviceable covers due to the expense involved. Many large business firms maintain a library of telephone books for convenient reference which are either loosely stored or considerable expense is incurreed to provide suitable binders. Most of such binders require heavy metal elements at the inside back of the book for the reception and holding of the back of the telephone book or other catalog.;-

' An object of my invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive. binder for the reception, storing and indexing of papers, pamphlets, brochures, magazines, catalogs, telephone books, to the end that the binder may if desired be stored in an upright position and in an orderly fashion so that the contents are available for quick and easy reference.

' More specifically my invention contemplates a binder made preferably of corrugated paper board which is scored to provide two covers and an integralback together with means for holding the covers together and at least partly retaining the material in the binder.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a binder of corrugated paper board which may be shipped 2 in a scored fiat condition and to which the user may apply a strap for maintaining the covers in superimposed relation and at least partially assisting in retaining the stored material in the binder.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be particularly set forth in the claims and will be apparent from the following description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: a

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sheet of corrugated paper board scored and cut to form a binder and illustra g the condition in which the blank is shipped;

Fig. 2 is a perspective View showing the covers of th binder secured together by a detachable strap;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view similar to 'Fig. 2 showing the binder in use and containing papers, pamphlets or magazines;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; 7 2

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the elastic strap;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the binder cover mounting plate for the reception of the elastic strap;

Fig. 7 is a partial perspective view showing how the strap is applied to the mounting plate; and

Fig. 8 is a view showing a modified form of the invention particularly useful for containing catalogs or tele, phone books.

The binder of my invention is preferably made of corrugated paper board although other paper board or plastic impregnated paper stock may be employed. The major factor is to provide a relatively strong cover of inexpensive material. As shown in the drawings, double face single wall corrugated paper board is employed with the corrugations extending in the longitudinal direction of the sheet as shown in Fig. 1. The blank is divided into three sections by transverse score lines 11 to provide two covers 12 and a back 13. V

For a purpose which will presently appear, two or more apertures 14 are punched in each of the covers 12 pereferably adjacent the free edges 16 of the covers. The apertures 14 arealso preferably located adjacent one of the transverse edges 17 of the blank. A notch or cut-out 18 is cut in each of the covers 12, the notches being approximately in transverse alignment with the apertures 14. s

For the purpose of holding the covers in'superimposed relation to each other a strap assembly, generally indicated by the numeral 19, is provided. 7 The strapassembly comprises a strap 21 (Fig. 5) and a mounting plate or bracket 22 (Fig. 6).

The strap 21 is of elastice material and is preferably of interwoven strands of rubber and fabric althoughtother stretchable or resilient materials may be employed. -Adjacent its ends the strap 21 is provided with apertures 25 corresponding in size and spacing to the apertures 14 in the covers 12. I

The mounting plate or bracket comprisesa thin sheet of metal. or other suitable materials, such mounting plate including a planar portion 23 and a flange portion 24 extending preferably at right angles to the planar portion 23. The plate is provided with two apertures 26 spaced from the flange 24 a distance equal to the distance between the bottoms of the notches 18 and the apertures 14 in the covers. The apertures 26 arealso spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing of the apertures 14 in the covers.

The mounting plate 22 has a part 27 struck upwardly above the planar portion 23 and slotted as shown at 28. The width of the slot 28 is such as to receive the Width of the strap 21, the strap being threaded through the slot 28 above the planar portion 23 and below the struck up part 27.

In Fig. 7, l have shown the strap threaded with respect lc Patented Jan. 31, 1956' tonne of the mountingplates. It will be understood that thestrap is threaded with respect to the other mounting plate in the samemanner. For the purpose of holding the strap and mounting plates in assembled relatiomaa. pair of, preferably metal buttons 29 are pro-' vided; hich comprise an enlarged flattened part 31, a stenrfiland, a'slightlyenlarged head 33. The buttons are extended through the apertures 25 and26 to assemble the strap 'wtih respt cttothe mounting plates.

Agrommet134 (Fig, 4) is secured in the margins of eachpf, the apertures 14, located in, the covers 12' for the reception of thebuttons 29. Upon reference to Fig. 4, it will beapparent that when the strap is in the condition shown in Fig. .7, the buttons may be pressed into the grommets so as to apply the strap assembly 19 to the in er-1H s ig ly. n a ged heads 33 of th uttons will extend slightly beyond the inner ends ofrthe grommete to loelr the, buttons in position. Other types of fastening elements may be provided. Preferably the type of fastening element desired is such as to provide an; essentially smooth surface on both the inner and outer faces of the covers. For example, instead of employing a button havinga head 33-, the stem 32 may have longitudinal cuts therein so as to exert a spring action when lgeated in the grommets to avoid the projection showh atSG inFig. 4. It will be particularly observed that the flange 24 of the mounting plate lies in the notcheslS so-thatthe edge 17 is substantially straight when the strap is assembled on the binder asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. obstruction, .the strap being essentially flush with the edge so that the binder may be supported on and slide oger a flatsurface'such as a shelf to stand upright inthe manner of a book.

;I n its'preferred forrnthe binder is assembled by the hey The blanks are preferably shipped fiat in the condition shown iri Fig. 1. The strap, mounting plate and fasteningelements may be packaged separately and the binder easily assembled by the user without the use of any tools. Moreover, the user may detach the strap assembly from the binder covers at any time if he so de- ;The relative size of the covers and back is optional in. accordance with thesizes of the pamphlets, papers, magazines or other material which the user desires to I For example, a user may desire to bind for future reference a years issue of a monthly magazine. In such case the covers would be slightly larger in length and width than the corresponding dimensions of the magazine and the back 13 will be of sutficient width to accommodate 12 issues. Thus the binder can be made up in anumber of different standard sizes and the user can select the size best suited to accommodate the particular material he desires to bind.

.The surface of the binder may be covered with a sheet of colored paper to present a more attractive appearance or the currugated paper board may be made in color if desired. The exterior of'the back 13 may carry suitable legends for the purpose of identification of the material stored within the binder.

7 One fact of importance will be noted in connection with the'binder of my invention. As shown in Fig. 2, the free edges 16 of the covers are pulled towards each other by the elastic strap 21. When material is placed in the binder as shown in Fig. 3, the binder expands and the material bound is engaged by the inner faces of the covers adjacent the free edges 16 of the covers. Thus the covers tend to hold the material in the binder aided Thus the edge 17 is essentially free of by the strapzl. In normal usage, the material stored in the binder will not slip outof the binder and an orderly and convenient storing and indexing of pamphlets, advertising literature, catalogs, magazines and other material may be made.

in Fig. 8, I have illustrated a modified form of my invention in which the elastic strap is omitted and a U- shaped continuous strapof metal or other material is provided, as indicated by the numeral 37. Fastening elements such as those previously described'ma'y be employed to enable the metal strap to be removably secured to the cover.

The binder shown in Fig. 8 is primarily .designed to receive material of a fixed thickness, for example, a telephone book or a mail order catalog. The binder of Fig. 8, for example, provides a convenient means for storing a number of telephone books of different cities which is common in hotel lobbies and large industrial concerns. The binder of Fig. 8 may be provided with finger holes or cutouts'38 enabling'the telephone book or' catalog to be easily grasped and removed from the binder for reference purposes.

it will be appreciatedthat I have provided a novel binder which is inexpensive to manufacture and convenient to use for the storing of various miscellaneous material and also for storing of issues of magazines, pamphlets, and catalogs. v

It will be further understood that various changes may be made, particularly in the form and relation of parts, without departing'frornthe spirit o'f my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A'binder comprising, in combination, a pair of covers and a back integrally joined to the covers adjacent two transverse hinge lines whereby the covers may readily beplaced in superimposed relation, said covers each having apertures formed therein adjacent one longitudinal edge and having notches cut therein at each of said longitudinal edges, a strap, a pair of plates, means formed in said plates enabling the strap to be threaded with respect to the plates, each of said plates having a flange which lies in one ofsaid-notches and an essentially flat part which lies againstthe outer face ofthe cover, said plates further having apertures which are in alignment with the apertures in the covers when the binder is assembled, and'means extending through the apertures in the plates and the apertures in the covers for rem'ovably securingthe str'ap to the covers.

2. A binder in accordance with claim l in which the apertures in the covers are provided with grommets, theback and covers may be shipped in a flat planar condition, and snap means are provided in connection with the strap wherebythe plates may be, applied when the binder is to be assembledsojthat the flanges lie in the notches and the snap means' may be snapped in the grommets to enable the user to f conveniently assemble the binder.

References Cited in'thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

